


I would be honored to be your best friend

by Whydoestherealworldjustsuck



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU No Supernatural, BAMF Cas, Cas helps, Castiel To The Rescue, Charlie is grateful, Ficlet, No Romance, One Shot, Platonic appreciation only, Tattooed Castiel, best friend fic, best friend meet cute, buses and assholes, friendship ficlet, misogynistic assholes, platonic love story, punk!Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 01:50:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13583454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whydoestherealworldjustsuck/pseuds/Whydoestherealworldjustsuck
Summary: Cas encounters a girl who needs help on the bus. The story of how he met his best friend.





	I would be honored to be your best friend

Charlie Bradbury was a beautiful girl who attracted to other beautiful girls. She'd had her first crush at seven years old, on a girl in her class who wore her hair in pigtails. Since that first day Gilda had shared her glitter stickers - Charlie had been smitten. Point is, she was a raging lesbian who had never held an ounce of attraction to the opposite sex. That hadn't stopped them from, apparently, being attracted to her. When she'd first got on this bus, on her way back into the city its only passengers were herself and a sweet batty old lady who had since fallen asleep, pressed up against the glass. Unfortunately for Charlie, that was about to change. She pulled on her headphones and began playing her music when three guys stepped on at the next stop.

She wrinkled her nose at the smell of their body odour, and their loud raucous laughs that she could hear, despite blaring "I'm walking on sunshine" into her ears. She ducked her head hoping to avoid their attention whilst glancing across to the lady she had affectionately dubbed "Mrs Potts." Who, come to think of it, may have died in her sleep on that very bus.  The rowdy trio moved further into the bus as they joked, pushing and shoving each other. Alpha males. Charlie rolled her eyes and began rummaging in her bag for her scarf.

"Well, well. Look at this pretty lady." A nasally voice, despite being muffled by her headphones, could be heard during the transition between songs. Charlie blinked, surprised. Her typically nerdy appearance meant that she was hardly a focus of male attention. Not that she minded that. For some reason this guy was interested in her, and she felt a beat of terror when she looked up and noticed the three men leering down at her.

Her heart raced. One glance told her that Mrs. Potts was going to be of no help in this particular situation. She swallowed nervously, turning away and winding her scarf around her neck. The man closest to her pulled her headphones off.

"Don't be shy, darling, we're just being friendly!" He grinned at her.

He stank of stale alcohol and poor life choices. She offered him a strained, polite smile, hoping he'd go away if she pulled her book out and started reading. Instead, he plonked himself on the seat next to her, far too close for a stranger to be sitting in a nearly empty bus. His two goons sat on the seats directly in front of, and behind her. That flicker of apprehension she felt earlier had fanned into lower level panic. They'd boxed her in.

"So, pretty," the first man said, tucking a lock of her red hair behind her ear, "where are you heading to for the day?"

She kept quiet, hoping her unfriendly demeanor would make them leave her alone.

"Don't be like that," he crooned in her ear. She felt sick. The stench of his sweat was all she could breath in at that moment. "You can hang out with us today."

She avoided his eyes. "No thank you." She declined politely.

"Oh, sweetheart, you know it'll be fun. I can take you around. Show you a good time. Ain't that right, boys?" He grinned at the friend in front.

"That's right, Al, we'll show you a real good time." His grin was predator like.

"I'm, uh, meeting some friends in the city." She lied. She was going by herself, but she didn't need them to know that. It would just give them more incentive to harass her.

"So ditch them!" Came an oily voice from behind her.

Al leaned in closer, "yeah, sweetheart, you can see them any old time. Hang out with us instead."

Charlie was not an easily intimidated woman, but her every instinct was screaming at her to get away. She couldn't get off, though the bus had now reached another stop, in case they followed her. She'd be in an unfamiliar part of town with three of hell's nastiest creatures on her tail. She was way out of her depth. She was a computer nerd! How was she expected to get out of this without her keyboard in front of her?

She considered telling them she was a lesbian, and about her girlfriend Dorothy, but she feared that might give them other ideas. _Think, Bradbury_.

* * *

 

He usually loved this weather. It was that cold, drizzling rain that would soak you to the bone if you stood still long enough, but wasn't hard enough to be considered rain. Now, however, trying to light a damp cigarette whilst he waited for the bus, Castiel thought there could be nothing worse. Huffing in frustration he shoved both the smoke and lighter into his coat pocket, and adjusted his beanie. He checked his phone. One text.

**See you soon, babe. - D**

Just then, with a squeal of the brakes, the bus pulled in. Cas shouldered his backpack and stepped on, tapping out a quick response. His lips curled in amusement as he though about his boyfriend of five years who still felt the need to sign off his texts. ("There is such a thing as contact information, Dee.") They'd been living together for the last three years and so, unaccustomed to being apart, these two weeks that he'd been away visiting Gabriel felt like pure torture. As he looked up, he saw the frightened face of a red haired girl, as she was obviously trying to inch away from the creep who was nearly sitting on her. She was positively surrounded. Her red hair reminded him of his baby sister Anna, and immeadiately his anger flared. He slipped on what Dean called his "smitey face" and quickly made his way down the aisle.

The men weren't paying attention to him, and so they startled when he cleared his throat behind them.

"Excuse me," his naturally deep voice, rough from cigarettes and sort of growly from anger.

"You're excused, now stop bugging us, pal." Said the creep next to the girl, smirking as he turned away from him and fiddling with a lock of her hair. She looked like she was going to be sick and eyed him warily.

"Oh, I only hoped you'd let me sit next to my girlfriend, _pal_." He spat the word. Thankfully all the men had turned to look at him, missing the look of complete bewilderment of the young woman's face.

"I mean," he continued, not having to fake the anger in his voice, "there are plenty of free seats on the bus. I'd just like to have _that one_." The girl was sharp. He could tell by the look of understanding that dawned on her face as he bluffed.

"Yeah, if you don't mind, I'd like to sit next to him please." She trembled.

The nasally irritating one looked Cas over, who consequently squared his shoulders and glared at the offending party. Now, Cas was a pretty tall guy. Not as tall as his boyfriend, or his boyfriend's mammoth brother, Sam, but he was still intimidating in size. Throw in his muscular arms, tattooed skin and pierced face- Cas was not a guy you should fuck with and it seemed as though the asshole had come to the same conclusion as he slunk off the seat and moved to one closer to the back, with his two cronies not far behind him.

Cas dropped into the recently vacated seat, and gently put his arm around the trembling girl. "How was your day, babe?" He said, loud enough to be heard by the men three rows behind them.

In a lower voice, practically a whisper, he said "I am so sorry. You looked really scared and they don't look like good guys. Do you mind if we sit like this until they get off the bus or till you get to your stop?" He searched her face, wanting to ensure she was comfortable with the faux relationship.

"Thank fuck!" She nodded and whispered back. Giving him a grateful grin. He was taken aback by the curse, and chuckled loudly.

"My name's Cas." He introduced, giving her a amused grin.

"Charlie."

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Charlie. Which stop are you getting off at?" He said, looking down at the girl, hoping he wasn't making her uncomfortable. She didn't hesitate to tell him, which made his next offer slightly easier.

"That's my stop, too. Listen, if these guys get off at the same time, can I walk you home?"

"Uh, I'd really like that. You should know though, that I don't swing your way." She said cautiously, as if she were worried he'd rescind his offer of safety without the promise of sex.

Cas grinned, full and bright, "Charlie, the offer still stands. Besides, I'm sure my boyfriend Dean would be relieved to know I don't swing your way either." He smirked at her.

"Then yes, I would love for you to walk me home." When she rattled off her address, Cas couldn't help the startled chuckle that burst out of him.

"You're kidding!"

"What?" She frowned, his arm still loosely draped over her shoulder.

"Have you, by any chance, just moved in? Say in the last two weeks?" He smiled.

"How did you know?" Her eyes comically wide.

Castiel stuck out his hand, "Castiel Novak. Apartment 14C. Nice to finally meet you, neighbour."

Charlie joined in on his chuckling, shaking his hand good naturedly. "Charlie Bradbury. Did we just become best friends?" She grinned.

"Charlie Bradbury, I would be honored to be your best friend."


End file.
